Sean O'Brien takes a podium spot at the FW European Championships
by Sean O'Brien on 1 Sep 2017
Action on Day 1 - Formula Windsurfing European Championships Sean O'Brien
Australia's Sean O'Brien was able to continue his form at the second leg of the Formula Windsurfing European Championships in Liepaja, Latvia, finishing in third and putting him in third overall for the three-leg European Championship tour.
The second stop of the Formula Windsurfing European Championships once again was greeted with strong winds in the seaside Latvian town of Liepaja. The four day event treated sailor to nine races in winds up to 25-30 knots sailed inside the enormous Karosta harbour on the north side of Liepaja.
Sailors from all over the world competed, with Australia's Sean O’Brien finishing third overall behind Michal Polanowski (Poland) and Janis Priess (Latvia) who took out first and second. Latvia has been a regular stop on the Formula Windsurfing world tour for a number of years, with this year’s event taking place inside the Karosta harbour, protecting the race course from the heavy Baltic sea swell and providing a challenging and fast-paced course inside the harbour’s breakwalls.
Michal Polanowski was able to dominate the event, taking five wins out of the nine races. Poland’s Hubert Mokrzyckia was able to take three wins, before crashes and equipment failure dropped him back to fourth overall behind O’Brien. Estonia’s Tristen Erik Kivi finished in fifth only one point behind Mokrzyckia.
This year’s European Championships is a three-event tour with the first stop taking place in Sopot, Poland in June and the final in Gallipoli, Italy this coming October. Michal Polanowski finished second in Sopot with Hubert Mokrzyckia in fourth. Sean O’Brien was sixth in Sopot putting these three riders in first, second, third respectively for the overall tour leading in to the final event in Italy.
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